Sri Lanka’s Kamil Mishara, center, and Pathum Nissanka, left, run between the wickets (left) and Pak Army Commander Asim Munir Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has personally intervened to ensure Sri Lanka’s cricket tour continues after a suicide attack in Islamabad earlier this week, Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Thursday.Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told the Senate that Munir spoke directly to top Sri Lankan officials when the visiting players expressed reluctance to continue the tour after the attack.The Sri Lanka Cricket Board confirmed late on Wednesday that the team’s ongoing tour of Pakistan would go ahead after what it called “high-level exchanges” between the two sides.
TTP owns up to attack in Islamabad, Then PM points finger at India and Afghanistan
“Our field marshal himself spoke to their defense minister, secretary and convinced them and fully assured them about (ensuring) security,” Naqvi, who also serves as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said in a Senate speech, as quoted by news agency PTI.Naqvi said the Sri Lankan players initially “decided to come back after the bomb blast happened”.“Our interaction with them has started, their board, players and all have with great courage decided to stay here,” he added as quoted by PTI.“They had many concerns but we tried to allay them,” Naqvi said, noting that Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake also spoke to his country’s players to reassure them.He added that Pakistan has deployed extensive security for the visiting team.Naqvi also mentioned that the Zimbabwe team has arrived in Pakistan and that the remaining matches will be played in Rawalpindi.The series, which was originally scheduled to begin on November 17, will now begin a day later on November 18, with all matches being played in Rawalpindi instead of the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, which was initially selected to host the T20 matches.The change follows Tuesday’s suicide bombing in Islamabad, which killed 12 people. The blast occurred shortly before the first one-day international between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was to begin in Rawalpindi.Sri Lankan players have faced such danger in Pakistan before. In 2009, the team bus was attacked by gunmen en route to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, injuring six cricketers and killing six Pakistani policemen and two civilians.
